Predominantly hydrocarbon fuels, whether in gaseous, liquid, or solid (usually pulverized) form, are noted for combustion effluents of harmful or noxious nature, such as carbon monoxide, particulates, and other by-products of incomplete combustion. Operation of such engines on hydrogen and air (or oxygen) sounds good, but hydrogen is not the ideal fuel it has seemed to be because engines operated on it attain such high temperatures as to flash back through the intake valves and thereby to preclude proper timing and to foster formation of noxious nitrogen oxides (aptly called NO.sub.X) in their effluent.
Organic origins of predominantly hydrocarbon fuels endow them with such ranges of molecular compositions and molecular sizes that their complete combustion while altogether is notably problematical. Attempts to provide a suitable range of combustion environments to accommodate such diverse combustible components have complicated the design and control of air and fuel inflow, admixture, and exhaust.
This invention does not undertake to extend that work, but to modify the fuel itself to render it more amenable to complete combustion, by providing a fuel additive--or additive fuel--noted for the unparalleled completeness of its combustion and the freedom of its effluent from the harmful contaminants common to the combustion effluents of predominantly hydrocarbon fuels. This phenomenal fuel, or fuel additive, also has the desirable characteristic of resisting leakage through imperfect tubing or pipeline joints or valves, for related reasons that are only gradually becoming better understood.